Ahead of Their Time: When Entertainment Prophesied the Future

Entertainment prophesied the future more often than you might believe.

We expect that from science fiction shows, but more often than not, comedy predicts events that come to pass.

TV has often gotten there first, whether it’s political events, global catastrophes, or which couples might split for drama. It creates a fictional future that later turns out to be uncannily accurate.

Shows Like The Twilight Zone Warn Of Dangerous Futures

Unsurprisingly, both The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who were ahead of their time, predicting current events fifty or more years ago.

The Twilight Zone ran in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the 21st century seemed extremely far away. When this sci-fi anthology began, humans began to explore space, and neither the US nor Russia put a man on the moon.

Many authors’ imaginations ran wild, but Rod Serling had a larger purpose.

He wanted to say things about society without running afoul of censors.

Using sci-fi as his medium, he could provide entertainment prophesied the future. It warned people where the human race was headed if it didn’t change its ways.

Serling’s stories rarely used tired TV tropes, which is one of the things that makes them memorable.

Twilight Zone stories are high quality, and most have withstood the test of time. One that will always stick in my mind is “Midnight Sun.”

This 1961 story predicted climate disasters that many people are worried about now. It’s about the last two people on Earth struggling to stay alive to finish their art after everyone else has been evacuated from the planet due to the extreme heat.

It seems shocking that he was able to create such a relevant story about climate issues in 1961. However, the media has been discussing these issues for a long time.

Doctor Who also addressed this issue from a different angle in 1970’s “Inferno.” In this episode, the Doctor is plunged into an alternate universe. There, he finds an evil version of the Brigadier who is determined to keep drilling through the Earth’s core even though it will cause the outside world to rise to unbearable temperatures.

This story was about corporate greed’s role in blocking climate-saving measures, and it is a nearly perfect parallel to real-world issues now.

The iconic British show provided entertainment that prophesied the future fight over fracking, drilling for oil and other activities that would cost companies substantial profit margins if they stopped doing them.

Classic Doctor Who is more famous for the Fourth Doctor’s declaration about powerful people trying to alter facts:

You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alters their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit the views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.

– The Fourth Doctor, Face of Evil Part 4

There is a proliferation of “fake news” and arguments over what’s true and what isn’t. This 1977 story prophesied the future and issued a dire warning about the dangers of authoritarianism.

Why Comedies Are As Likely As Science Fiction To Predict The Future

Some Jokes Are Based On What The Writers See In Everyday Life

It might seem strange that more comedies than science fiction shows have predicted future events, but it makes sense when you think about it.

Many comedies are based on observations of everyday life. Some are also bitter satires of the world around them, which explains why The Simpsons has predicted so many world events.

The seemingly immortal cartoon could win records for entertainment that prophesied the future, having done it on so many occasions.

Its most famous example is the time in 2000 when it alluded to Donald Trump having won a Presidential election.

The episode revolved around a future version of Lisa being the first female President and having to clean up the mess Trump left behind.

Ironically, if Kamala Harris wins in November, it will predict something else. Many Simpsons fans calculate that Lisa will become the first female President sometime before 2028.

It’s less surprising that The Jetsons, set in a futuristic society, predicted several technological advances, such as flat-screen TVs and the ability to make video calls.

What about seemingly more realistic comedies such as Friends?

These shows are supposed to be about everyday people (though people who live in huge Manhattan apartments on a barista’s salary or have so much free time to hang out aren’t like most of our real-life friends!)

Friends And Other Realistic Comedies Sometimes Predict Things Accidentally

Other Times, Jokes About The Future Come From Astute Observation

Some throwaway lines merely meant for entertainment prophesied the future by accident.

That time that Scrubs predicted where Osama Bin Laden was hiding probably falls into that category.

The Janitor, who is always saying random weird stuff, said that Bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan several years before that turned out to be the case.

That kind of joke doesn’t need lots of thought behind it. Someone thought that was the kind of thing the Janitor would say, that’s all.

Conversely, when Friends predicted the invention of Facebook, that was probably more of an observation-based joke.

It happened only a year before Facebook was first introduced, with Ross telling Chandler that their college alum site allowed people to post status updates.

This episode aired only a year before Facebook was introduced as a site for college students and alums to connect. Still, Myspace was already a thing.

It wasn’t a massive jump for the writers to imagine a similar site for college students and alums. They got a great joke out of it with Chandler’s sarcastic response.

Over to you, TV fanatics. What are some of your favorite times when entertainment prophesied the future? Do you think comedies are uniquely suited to do this?

Hit the comments and let us know!